As For What Lies Ahead
by OpaiSenpai
Summary: Seasons pass and children grow, but some people never change. Getting stuck to a man with a murderous gleam in his eye is just about as difficult as it sounds, if not much, much worse. (eventual OCxHisoka)


She didn't quite register what was about to happen until she felt a hard push on her shoulder, nearly sending her to the floor. The panicked perpetrator stumbled past her, his eyes wide and shaking as he glanced back, recovering quickly and running straight on. The pale-haired girl was still somewhat frozen, looking around as the crowd of participants followed suit of the previous man, the couple hundred men and women rushing around her. As the people began to taper off, one of the stragglers voice hit her like a brick.

"You're going to die." It calmly told her, her eyes then following him as he ran past her. In that moment, remembering everything she had just been told before the start of this round, her legs seemed to kick into action. She took off running, the thundering footsteps of the thing chasing them sending shocks through her every time her bare feet touched the floor. Her eyes were glued to the man who had spoke to her, watching his actions as he ran. He sounded so neutral, while the other participants were completely frantic.

The thing behind her let out a piercing screech, snapping her attention away from the man, and to the monster only a couple meters behind her. The creature looked like something straight out of a horror movie. It was at least the size of a full grown elephant, although it was having no trouble keeping up with them. The closest thing that she could compare it to was a tiger, but it definitely _wasn't_ a tiger. It had both fur and feathers, and two great bat-like wings furled up on it's back. It had huge teeth, two were incredible, like sabertooth tigers; while the rest looked sharp and many, like a shark's. This thing was charging the large group of hunter exam-takers, who were all, including her, running for their lives.

As time went on, they had been sprinting full speed for about 10 minutes, and the girl had seen countless contestants either trip and be crushed by the monster's colossal paws, or slow down and get snapped up by it's million-toothed maw. She continued to look ahead, adrenaline and basic motivation keeping her legs from slowing. To believe that this was the first phase of the Hunter Exam was a bit unbelievable to her. Still, she could believe that if this was the first round, she would definitely become a Hunter. Even as those thoughts passed through her mind, doubt blindsided her was something gigantic crashed behind her, throwing her completely off of her feet, sending her and the rest of the remaining participants at least 4 feet from the ground. She landed on her side with a bang, and the first thing that ran through her head was,

" _Oh god, it's going to step on me!"_ She instantly shot up into only a sitting position, looking over her shoulder to see a large metal wall. Taking her a couple moments to understand what had happened, and she was looking around the room they were in now. The thing screeched from behind the closed wall, almost signifying the end of that torture. A lot of the participants were still lying down, panting out of a final break from sprinting, while only a couple others were standing up.

"Hey! Kaiyo!" She looked over as she heard her name called from a distance away. She sighed as she saw the portly man in a blue tunic wave at her as he was leaning up against the wall. How had he even survived this? His face was red and it looked like he was drenched in sweat, so he must have ran it. Come to think of it, what was his name again? Torta? Tooma? It was something along those lines. She sat up straight, giving him a small hand gesture out of recognition, but stayed where she was. Kaiyo looked at the room more closely now that she had regained her senses. It was a generally bland room, a large rectangle with white walls and a hard steel floor. Fights could probably be carried out here with ease, and no worry about surroundings. She hoped it didn't come to fighting in the next phase. Noticing out of the corner of her eye, she saw a long-nailed hand reached down towards her. She looked up at the person offering it to her.

"Hm. I thought for sure you wouldn't make it. Yet… here you are." He cooed. It was the man that had passed her before. Kaiyo felt shivers down her spine, and her gut began to spin as she got the worst feeling aura from him. It was worse than simply intimidating, as if there was only death lingering in his soul. Because of that fact, she didn't want to decline his polite invitation, in fear that he would get offended. She reached up her hand slowly, the second her fingertips landed on his palm, his hand gripped around hers, pulling her quickly and almost harshly to her feet. She yelped in surprise, and because his grip on her hand was startlingly painful. He was much taller than her, and the way he leaned over her made it worse.

"You're trembling~" He quietly said, his lips curling in a girn. She tensed up, pulling her hand out of his grasp and taking a couple of steps back. She then promptly bowed forward at a 90 degree angle, despite her mind telling her nothing but " _leave, run away"_.

"Thank you for catching my attention earlier. I would've died." Kaiyo told him as assertively as she could, although her voice still wavered. She straightened up again, her fuschia eyes peering cautiously at him.

"Oh? You're welcome." He smiled, looking her up and down. She got shivers again, and then quickly excused herself, turning and walking towards Torta. He was basically the only other person she knew, and right now he seemed much more inviting than the disturbing redheaded man. She stood in front of him, and he slowly stood up to greet her.

"Hey! Good job on the first phase! When I saw you weren't running at first I got worried." He told her, his voice a bit too upbeat for what had just happened.

"Yeah." She quietly agreed, glancing over her shoulder at the man. He was really freaky, and she didn't know if she could trust him or not. He did help her, but she doubted that he did it on purpose.

"Oh. I saw you talking to him. That's number 28, Hisoka. He's really crazy strong, and will definitely become a Hunter. What did he have to say to you?" Torta asked. Kaiyo shrugged.

"Not much. He kind of… congratulated me? For getting this far, that is." She reached down, pulling a piece of bubblegum from her pocket, popping it in her mouth.

"Oooh gum! What kind is it?" Torta asked. She perked up slightly when he asked.

"Burbon. I have brandy, and whiskey on me today too. It felt like an alcohol type of gum day. Do you want some, Torta?" Kaiyo asked. He made a cringing face.

"Uhh, no thanks. But my name's not Torta! It's Tonp-" Before he was able to finish, a small hole opened up in the ceiling. A girl looked through, looking around at all of the people on the ground.

"Hello everybody! Congratulations on making it past the first phase! Let's see, there's about 230 left out of 360. That's a biiiig~ gap! Mr. Yukimana really didn't hold back!" This child was already irritating Kaiyo slightly, and that's saying something. "Don't worry, my tests will make it much smaller as well!" She chirped. Instead of just sticking her head through, now she dropped down, still hanging on to the couple meter by couple meter rectangular hole in the ceiling.

"So! Welcome to the second phase of the 286th annual Hunter Exam!" She giggled afterwards, swinging slightly on the edge. "Ooookay! Let me introduce myself. My name is Yumo! I'm a fun loving hunter you took the exam for no good reason, so now I'm here! For this round, I'm going to see who you love~ the most!" She laughed, kicking her legs out. She really was just a little girl. Who in their right mind let her become a hunter? "The two walls on the long end on this room will start to close once I'm finished talking! Cool, right? If you want to escape, you have to make it out of this hole right here." She let one hand go, pointing towards the opposite side of the hole. "Buuuut! To be allowed out, you have to bring one, and only one, other person with you! And it had to be consensual! Or else that's not nice as all~!" She yelled out, wagging a finger. "Have fun!" She finished rather abruptly, pulling herself out of the hole. Just as the tip of her toe got out of sight, there was a rumble as the walls began to move inwards, Tonpa jumping up and moving forward.

"Quickly, me and you! Then all we have to do is find a way to get up!" Tonpa rushed.

"Okay!" Kaiyo quickly agreed. There was no one else, and this skipped a big step in Examiner Yumo's plan. The two of them started moving towards the middle the majority of the other contestants. She was running as many different plans of action as she could through her mind, when she felt something strong pull at her shoulder, making her take a step back. Her heart seemed to lurch in her chest, since this feeling was...wrong. She looked over her shoulder, instinctively using Gyo. She saw a bright pink string-like substance clung to her upper back shoulder, leading all the way, in a perfectly straight line, to Hisoka's finger. Kaiyo's bright eyes widened as she realized what he was about to do, and had no time to react. She hadn't thought that he was a Nen user too.

Hisoka tugged back violently, and she got pulled harshly towards him, screaming as she did so. Several other contestants watched as she was forcefully pulled straight into him. Kaiyo writhed as she felt on arm wrap around her waist.

"Get off! Did you forget the rules already?!" She screamed as she squirmed under his grasped.

"You're not as physically strong as I thought you were… maybe I overestimated you." Hisoka endearingly smiled. Kaiyo gasped out as he clutched hard in on her ribs, pushing all of the air out. She was shaking now, her hands grasping on his arm. "Why don't you leave with me? I have the easiest way to get out, and I know you have none. You wouldn't get out of here teamed up with him." He told her. Her stomach churned once again as she realized he was right. "Just say the word, it's getting late~" He cooed. He was right, a couple pairs had already left using their own means, and the walls were getting close. A lot of people were going to die this round, not because they couldn't find a person, but because they didn't have the means to get up to the ceiling.

"Okay, okay… but you're… crushing…" She gasped out, as he hadn't lightened his grasp on her waist.

"Oh! Right. Sorry." He chuckled, easing up slightly and she sighed, although she still wouldn't have been able to get away if she wanted to. Hisoka shifted her so that her face was at his chest, one arm still holding her tight around the waist. "Hold on, birdy~" He smiled, using his other hand to fling his weird goo-like nen up, connecting it to the edge of the hole, then pulling it taunter and taunter. Kaiyo was getting more and more nervous, but this was probably the only way she would get out of this alive. Thinking about it, she should be lucky that Hisoka chose her of all people to escape with. Then Hisoka released whatever it was keeping them to the ground, the two of them flying towards the opening, going perfectly through the middle of the rectangle and land lightly on the edge of the roof. The examiner had and instant reaction.

"Eeee! You two are sooooooo cute~!" She squealed, as Kaiyo quickly pushed her way off of Hisoka, taking more than a couple steps away from him. "Since you got out together, you two will be partners for the next part of this phase as well! I can't wait to see it!" Yumo giggled, waving back and forth. Kaiyo felt her stomach literally lurch this time, and she looked away, putting her hand over her mouth. She was strong, but so was her gag reflex. This was absolutely the worst thing that could've happened. She'd rather have that fat stupid old man than this absolute nutjob. She breathed quietly as she tried to regain her composure. She believed in herself, she could totally do this without dying. Probably.


End file.
